
METHOD OF TEACHING 



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}] PRUSSIAN SCIIO O L S, {{ 

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BV w. wrnicH, 
NRtive of Tilsit, Prussia, 



N E W - Y O R K 



J-) PnHLlSUED BY THE AMERICAN COMMON SCHOOL SOCIETY, Q 

.C 128 Fulton-Street. ^ 

183S. <{ 

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Pieicy * Reed, Printers. 



THE STUDIES 



METHOD OF TEACHING 



PRUSSIAN SCHOOLS. 



BY W. WITTICH, 

Native of Tilsit, Prussia. 



NEW-YORK 



PUBLISHED BY THE AMERICAN COMMON SCHOOL SOCIETY, 

128 Fulton-Street. 
1838. 



" f 



STUDIES AND METHOD 



TEACHING IN PRUSSIAN SCHOOLS. 



The elementary schools of Prussia, which for 
some time have attracted, and still continue to attract, 
the attention of every observer of and well-wisher 
to education, did not attain their present superior 
state at once, but by degrees. The progress of 
their improvement was at first very slow, and al- 
most imperceptible ; but in latter times it has made 
rapid strides, and become obvious to every one who 
has directed his attention to the education of the 
laboring classes. 

Up to the year 1770, the whole system of educa- 
tion in Prussia was in no way superior to that adopted 
in England, nor was it materially of another cha- 
racter. The only difference which then existed 
referred to the grammar-schools and the universi- 
ties. The general instruction ot the students was 
to be completed, or nearly so, in the schools ; and 
for that reason the law did not admit them to the 



4 THE STUDIES AND METHOD OF 

universities before the completion of their eighteenth 
year. At the universities they had to apply them- 
selves to the acquirement of those branches of know- 
ledge which were necessarily required for the due 
performance of their future duties as clergymenj 
judges, magistrates, and physicians. The difference 
between this system of instruction and that which 
prevails in England is obvious, and still exists. 

At that period the elementary schools for the 
poorer classes were in a very low condition, which 
was the more to be regretted, as the immense dis- 
tance between elementary and grammar-schools 
was not then filled up by any of those middle schools 
which at present afford the appropriate degree of 
instruction to such a large class of society. The 
merchant had no alternative but either to send his 
son to a grammar-school, where he was instructed 
in many branches of knowledge quite useless for 
his future prospects in life, or to place him in an 
elementary school, where only a few rudiments 
were taught, and these too in the most negligent 
manner. Instruction in these schools did not then 
extend beyond reading, learning the Catechism, a 
few passages of the Bible, and some hymns by heart, 
a little bad writing, and the casting up a few simple 
and easy accounts. Public instruction was then a 
mechanic art, not unlike that of a cobbler; for 
teaching was synonymous with filling the memory 
of a child ; reading was imparted by the most simple 
method of syllabation, and arithmetic without the 
least indication of the natural relations exii?ting be- 



TEACHING IN PRUSSIAN SCHOOLS. O 

t.we3n numbers. At this time any man was deemed 
fit to hold the office of schoolmaster in an element- 
ary school. If he was uninstructed in some branch 
of the requisite kno'vledge, the study of a few days- 
or weeks was considered sufficient to supply the de- 
ficiency. Hence it happened, that most of these 
teachers were persons who had previously tried 
their fortune in some other business and had not 
succeeded. They commonly continued to practice 
their art — as rr^ervdin^ old clothes, etc. — either 
after school time, or even sometimes during the 
attendance of the children. The discipline was as 
simple and as ineffective as the method of teaching — 
consisting of a continual use of the stick. 

When, after the termination of his long wars, 
Frederic the Second began to direct his full atten- 
tion to the internal improvement of his territories, 
the low state of education did not escape him. He 
caused the existing laws respecting the attendance 
and establishment of schools to be enforced as far 
as they were efficient, and such additions as he 
conceived to be required were made by new laws ; 
while he charged the clergy, under whose guidance 
the schools for the lower classes were placed, to 
direct their attention to tiie improvement of them. 
At the same lime he made an endeavor to introduce 
some change into the modes of teaching, and in 
discipline. He was desirous that the latter should 
not depend solely on the use of the stick, but be 
partly effected by an excitement ot the feeling of 
ambition. The children were to be made ac- 
1* 



6 THE STUDIES AND METHOD OF 

quaintedj at least in part, with the principles on 
which the knowledge which was imparted to them 
rested : it was likewise ordered that some portion 
of the instruction was to have some connexion with 
their future life, and to be useful. In accordance 
with the views of the monarch, great changes were 
introduced into the elementary schools. In teach- 
ing how to read, much more art was displayed. 
The import of the single letters was dissolved into 
their fundamental sounds, movable letters were 
used, tables for reading invented, etc. These, 
however, were comparatively trifling matters. — 
More important was the change in other branches 
of elementary instruction. Writing was directed to 
useful purposes, and carried so far, that the most 
clever boys were enabled to write short letters, 
though only in a slovenly way and with little cor- 
rectness. Mental arithmetic was introduced. — 
Learning by heart was only retained for the Cate- 
chism and selected passages of the Bible. The 
practice of reading books, by which the children 
could acquire some knowledge of life and of the 
world, was introduced. But^ in despite of the 
efforts of Frederic, these changes were adopted 
pnly in a few schools to their full extent ; as, in 
the great majority of instances, the teachers them- 
selves were too uncultivated to comprehend, or to 
apply, these new methods. In the schools of some 
towns, however, they took firm root. The con- 
tinual efforts of an able and humane nobleman. 
Von Rochow, to introduce them into the elementary 



TEACHING IN PRUSSIAN SCHOOLS. 7 

scliools of the country, did not produce the wished- 
for effects. In Hanover they became more general 
than in any other part of Germany. 

Though the efforts of Frederic for improving the 
instruction in the elementary schools did not pro- 
duce the expected effects, they were not altogether 
without influence upon the progress of instruction ; 
for no sooner did the public understand that instruc- 
tion could be imparted on more rational and more 
humane principles, than they wished to procure 
such instruction for their children. This gave rise 
to a considerable number of private schools, in 
which these principles were adopted and carried 
into practice with tolerable success. In the larger 
towns some other branches of knowledge were 
added to those which had been previously taught ; 
and the improvement of these schools was so rapid, 
that after a few years, some of them set up as rivals 
of the grammar-schools, and a few even with suc- 
cess. Those which attained the highest degree of 
celebrity, were the institutions of Basedow in Des- 
sau, and that of Solzmann in S^chnepfenthal. They 
did not teach the Greek language, as being of very 
little use in practical life ; but, on the other hand, 
they introduced many other branches of knowledge, 
which at that period were excluded from the then 
grammar-schools, especially natural philosophy and 
natural history. Besides, they introduced other 
methods of teaching, in languages too; and though, 
at least in the latter instance, these new modes 
were more superficial than those of the grammar- 



8 THE STUDIES AND METHOD OF 

schools, they were likewise more easy and less 
tiresome. This led soon to a material improve- 
ment of the grammar-schools themselves. Their 
conductors became soon aware that the private in- 
stitutions owed their superiority to the introduction 
of such useful knowledge as natural philosophy, 
natural history, and modern history, and they were 
not backward in imitating them in this point. — 
Though it was at first conceived that this could only 
be effected at the expense of the ancient languages, 
it was found by experience that a judicious CRConomy 
of time rendered the sacrifice of these languages 
unnecessary. With the new branches of know, 
ledge, the methods of teaching them used in the 
private institutions were also adopted, and this had 
tne effect of modifying by degrees the old stubborn 
mode of teaching the ancient languages. Now, 
for the first time, it became generally understood, 
that teaching is an art of great difficuhy, which can 
only be acquired by long practic<% although a regu- 
lar course of instruction may materially aid persons 
desirous of mastering it. This discovery advanced 
the cause a step farther. It gave rise to the esta- 
blishment of the pcedagocical and philological semi- 
naries, in which persons who had enjoyed an uni- 
versity education were instructed in the methods of 
imparting a knowledge of the sciences as well as of 
the ancient languages. 

While these important and rapid improvements 
were taking place in the instruction of the higher 
classes of society, the schools instituted for the 



TEACHING IN PRUSSIAN SCHOOLS. 9 

lower classes remained as they were, if they did not 
fall into even still greater neglect. In this state they 
continued up to the beginning of the present cen- 
tury. Before it commenced, however, a man ap- 
peared, gifted with all the rare qualities of a great 
and useful reformer. Pestalozzi had begun his 
great work in Switzerland. With a clear head and 
a sound sense, he united a profound knowledge of 
human nature and the daring boldness of a reformer. 
He was, besides, possessed of that perseverance 
which alone can bring a great work to its termina- 
tion, and with that love for mankind which prompts 
man to undertake a difficult work without expecting 
to derive personal advantages from it. He began 
his work with investigating the mental powers, and 
the manner in which they are gradually developed 
in children, and to this development he adapted both 
the subjects to be taught and the mode of teaching 
them. It would lead me too far to explain here the 
results of his investigation, and the attempts which 
he made to bring his teaching into strict accordance 
with them. Those who desire to know them, will 
find them in Pestalozzi's book entitled " How Ger- 
trude instructs her children." Although some of 
the modes of teaching, adopted and practised by 
Pestalozzi, have been abandoned, he must be con- 
sidered as the founder of the new system of educa- 
tion. He was the first to raise teaching to an art 
based on a knowledge of human nature. It was, 
therefore, to be expected that he should commit 
some errors. Human nature, as is well known, 



10 THE STUDIES AND METHOD OF 

exhibits itself under such numberless shapes and 
appearances, both in its external form and mental 
powers, that the mind and experience of one man is 
quite unable to comprehend thom in one view, and 
to subject them to unalterable laws. 

As this system of education was only adapted to 
the instruction of the lower classes, it probably in a 
short time would have been forgotten, if it had not 
been taken up by the government of some coun- 
tries. The lower classes are nowhere capable of 
paying for their children such a sum as will main- 
tain private schools in which teachers are employed 
who have attained the degree of knowledge required 
for instructing them with effect according to the 
system of Pestalozzi. With the death of the founder, 
and that of a few of his disciples, whom he had suc- 
ceeded in inspiring with a part of his own zeal and 
enthusiasm, his great invention would have been 
forgotten, if some of the republics of Switzerland, a 
few princes of Germany, and the Prussian govern- 
ment, had not thought it a matter of great import- 
ance to transplant it into their elementary schools. 

Some historical notices on the introduction of this 
system into Prussia, are found in the Quarterly 
Journal of Education, No. XX. p. 267, where an 
account is given ol the seminary for schoolmasters 
established in the Orphanotrophy at Konigsberg. I, 
therefore, shall not enter into this matter, but give a 
short account of the present state of the elementary 
schools in that country. First, I shall lay down the 
leading principles on which the education rests, and 



TEACHING IN PRUSSIAN SCHOOLS. 11 

then proceed to notice the things which are taught, 
and the methods adopted in imparting every branch 
of knowledge. 

The first leading principle, which may be con- 
sidered as including all the others, is that instruction 
is not the same thing with stuffing the memory of 
children with a great number of facts and notions. 
It is rather to be directed to the other mental 
powers, which are to be roused, developed, exer- 
cised, and cuhivated. It farther has to refine and 
to moderate the passions, to cultivate the religious 
and moral feelings, and to direct the mental activity 
to good purposes. It is evident that this object 
cannot be attained by pursuing one general plan 
of instruction, and that the individual qualities of 
every child must not be lost sight of. Instruction, 
therefore, ceases to be a handicraft, to be exercised 
according to a few simple rules in an uniform man- 
ner ; it becomes an art ; and as the intimate com- 
bination of extensive knowledge, sound sense, and 
a profound acquaintance with human nature, is re- 
quired for the purpose of exercising it with good 
success,it may with truth be called a verydifficult art. 

Teaching, in its common signification, and in- 
structing, are by no means synonymous ; as the 
former generally implies only the imparting of some 
kind of knowledge, and the impressing it strongly 
on the memory of the student. But instructing 
means to help the student in acquiring or appropri- 
ating to himself any kind of knowledge, or in form- 
ing the habit of performing certain tasks with 



12 THE STUDIES AND METHOD OF 

facility. This cannot be effected without a steady 
activity of the mental powers on the side of the 
student ; and where this activity is not excited and 
kept up, the desired end cannot be attained. In 
endeavoring to create this activity, the art of the 
teacher displays itself most conspicuously. His 
business is not to save to the students all trouble 
and labor by explaining everything to them ; but 
he must have sufficient sagacity to distinguish 
where, and how far, the knowledge and mental 
powers of the child alone are sufficient for the per- 
formance of the task, and where, and how far, his 
own interference is required. A teacher who, fol- 
lowing up this idea, has acquired by experience a 
certain tact in thus dealing with the children under 
his care, may be certain that he will succeed in 
exciting and maintaining their attention, and in im- 
planting in their minds a thirst for knowledge and 
the habit of mental activity. 

Explanations on the side of the teacher, and 
performances on the side of the children, will there- 
fore follow one another alternately. In giving the 
children tasks to perform, or problems to solve, the 
sound sense and experience of the teacher ai-e put 
to the test. They must be neither too easy nor 
too difficult. In the first case the attention of the 
child slackens, and relapses into inactivity ; in the 
second it makes perhaps repeated efforts, but, find- 
ing them useless, it becomes discouraged and remiss 
in its work. If either of these cases happen re- 
peatedly, the mind of the child gets into the habit 



TEACHING IN PRUSSIAN SCHOOLS- 13 

of working at the best only by starts ; and if the 
whole course of teaching consists of such mistakes 
on the part of the teacher, there will be a danger of 
all inental energy being drowned by his want of 
capacity for the due perforniance of the duties of 
his office. 

It cannot be expected that the teachers of the 
lower classes should be possessed of such an exten- 
sive knowledge of all the branches in which they 
are called upon to give instruction, as unassisted to 
be ' able to arrange every part of them in such a 
form as is required by the continually changing pe- 
cuharity of each pupil ; nor is it possible that they 
could acquire it in the short time they pass in the 
seminaries. Books and treatises, written system- 
atically, in a scientific order, can afford the teacher 
very little aid. They teach him only the matter, 
not the manner in which it is to be brought before 
his pupils. To digest this matter so that it may 
serve the purpose, is commonly a very difficult 
task, and frequently above the powers even of edu- 
cated men. Numerous school books on all the sub- 
jects which are taught in the schools of the lower 
classes have been composed for the express purpose 
of assisting the teacher in this most difficult part of 
his duty. In no country are such books printed in 
so great a number as in Germany, nor are they 
anywhere composed with as much care and atten- 
tion to the order and connection of their parts. In 
latter times, German writers occupied in composing 
school books have begun to distinguish with a great 
2 ■ 



14 THE STUDIES AND METHOD OF 

degree of discrimination between books affording 
only instruction for those who study them by them- 
selves in a scientific way, and those in which mat- 
ters are arranged as they are to be laid before the 
beginners, and to be imparted by teachers to chil- 
dren. In reading these performances, it is evident 
that great care has been taken to connect the first 
principles of every branch of knowledge with the 
ideas which may reasonably be supposed to exist 
previously in the minds of children. Not less atten- 
tive have they been to arrange the contents so, that 
they constitute a continual and equal progress. It 
farther is commonly found, that all the objects have 
been well digested, and that the authors have had a 
clear conception of the end which they strived to 
{ittain, and which most of them have attained. The 
multiplicity of these books, and the diiferent ways 
in which they are arranged, render it a much more 
easy matter to the teacher to adapt his instruction to 
the capacity of the children, than could be imagined 
at the first \iew. 

Less successful have been the endeavors for 
improving moral education ; partly because the 
same passions, affections, and feelings, are not so 
continually in activity as the mental powers ; and 
partly because the regulation and cultivation of 
many of them are intimately connected with domes- 
tic education, over which, of course, the teacher can 
obtain very little influence. The different means 
by which it has been tried to obtain this end, have 
also been for the most part very defective ; some 



TEACHING IN PRUSSIAN SCHOOLS. 15 

teachers, especially those of the older school, are 
still of opinion, that the moral improvement ot 
children is to be attained by a strict vigilance on 
their inclinations, habits, and vices, and by prompt 
application of severe punishments, for the purpose 
of rooting out such habits and propensities. But 
this system has reasonably been objected to by 
others, who observed, that at the best it was only a 
negative education, its object being only the rooting 
out of vices, and not the implanting of moral feel- 
ings and virtuous habits. These educators ob- 
served, that those fields which remain uncultivated, 
and were not employed to produce useful plants, 
are the most quickly overrun by weeds. Other 
teachers adopted a quite different system. They 
thought, that admonitions, exhortations, and reason, 
ings, would not fail to bring about a change in the 
minds and habits of the children, and they resorted 
to them as often as opportunity offered. But this, 
too, had not the wished-for effect. The boys soon 
got so accustomed to these exhortations and rea- 
sonings, that they did not mind them any longer ; 
and what was worse, they became unmindful of 
every kind of reasoning and remonstrance,^a cir- 
cumstance which ought carefully to be avoided. — 
Thus, it has now become the prevailing opinion 
among the most zealous promoters of education in 
Prussia, that neither of these two systems can 
bring about the wished-for improvement in the 
morals of children ; and although some of the va- 
rious means which have been devised for obtaining 



16 THE STUDIES AND METHOD OF 

that end, may be occasionally resorted to, that it is 
only from the moral qualities and the personal 
character of the teacher that any improvements in 
this respect can reasonably be expected. 

The subjects taught in the elementary schools 
have been increased in number, while at the same 
time each is pursued to a much greater extent than 
formerly. This improvement has been effected 
without great difficulty by the aid of teachers who 
have been regularly trained up to the business in 
seminaries established for the purpose, where they 
not only acquired the art of teaching, but also that 
of systematically disposing of their time and of 
using it to good purpose. Reading and writing, 
which formerly constituted the greatest part of in- 
struction, are at present considered only as parts of 
the study of the native language. The casting of a 
few simple accounts, which forty years ago were 
thought the height of erudition to be obtained in 
elementary schools, has been pursued to the mathe- 
matics. Under the general name of knowledge of 
the external world are comprehended the first ele- 
ments of geography, history, natural history, and 
natural philosophy ; none of these objects formerly 
were brought before the children in these schools, 
except in a few disjointed notices in the course of 
reading-books. A new subject has been lately ad- 
ded to this list, namely, drawing. The instruction 
in religion and singing has much increased in in- 
trinsic value, and is likewise carried to a greater 
extent. 



TEACHING IN PRUSSIAN SCHOOLS. 17 

I shall now speak separately of each of the six 
subjects of instruction in the elementary schools ; 
and in doing so I shall first notice the manner in 
which the children are led to make the first steps, 
then make some observations on their farther pro- 
gress, and at last indicate the point at which the 
course of instruction terminates. 

1. Native Language. — (Muttersprache.) 

It has been for some time an object of dispute 
how far the native language ought to be taught in 
elementary schools. Some did not extend it be- 
yond reading, writing, and some easy compositions. 
But others maintained, that a sound knowledge of 
the language is intimately connected with a know, 
ledge of our own conceptions and feelings, and also 
with an acquaintance with external objects ; that 
the language frequently indicates distinctions, 
founded in nature, but not obvious to careless ob- 
servers ; and that on those accounts nothing is 
more conducive to the cultivation of the minds of 
children than an accurate insight into the structure 
of their own language. These persons, with rea- 
son, pointed out the advantages arising in the 
grammar-schools from the study of the ancient lan- 
guages, and thought it not improbable that similar 
advantages might be obtained by the study of the 
native language alone, if properly conducted. 

Instruction in the mother tongue is commonly 
divided into two different courses. In one, the chil- 
2* 



18 THE STUDIES AND METHOD OF 

dren are made acquainted with the internal struc- 
ture of the language, with its laws and rules ; in 
the other, it is studied as the means of expressing 
conceptions in speech and in writing. 

No matter, perhaps, has more occupied the re- 
formers of education in Germany, than the disco- 
very of the best mode of teaching to read. Num- 
berless proposals have been made, and experiments 
tried. At present they seem to have come to the 
conclusion, that the shortest way is to teach writing 
and reading together and at the same time, and 
that nearly every method for obtaining the object 
has the same effect, if it is not too artificial. As a 
preparatory step, some exercises are to be made. 
The little children are caused to pronounce simple 
sounds and words to give more pliancy to the 
tongue, and they must draw lines in different di- 
rections to obtain steadiness in the hand. From 
this point reading and writing proceed together so 
as alternately to aid one another. In the progress 
of writing, orthography is gradually attended to ; 
and the same object is farther obtained by the 
analysis of many words which occur in reading. 
The attention is then directed to read nig with the 
proper accent and emphasis, and calligraphy is 
united with the use of the most natural and proper 
expressions. These exercises are followed by com- 
positions of different kmds ; bj attempts to attain 
propriety in reading poetry and songs ; and lastly, 
by reading tales and events, and by giving descrip- 
tions of natural objects. This is what is called the 



TEACHING IN PRUSSIAN SCHOOLS. 19 

practical course of teaching the native language ; 
and many teachers think it sufficient, if they add the 
most necessary and obvious rules of grammar and 
construction. 

Others, however, think it advantageous to enter 
with the older and more advanced boys into a theo- 
retical course, giving an explanation of single 
sounds and words, and treating more extensively 
the formation of the different sentences and the 
composition of periods. To render this instruction 
less tiresome to children, and to arrest more effec- 
tually their attention, the teacher gives it in contin- 
uation with sensible objects, a knowledge of which 
they have obtained in what is called knowledge of 
the external world, and at last they introduce some 
exercises on the logical order of expressing our 
conceptions. 

2. Mathematics, — (Grossenlehre.) 

This branch of knowledge extends in the ele- 
mentary schools to arithmetic and geometry ; and 
their introduction into the schools, as well as the 
present manner of teaching both, are due to Pesta- 
lozzi. Before his time, arithmetic, as taught in 
these ^ schools, consisted only in writing on slates 
certain numbers and accounts according to certain 
rules or keys, without any knowledge of their true 
relation to one another. Pestalozzi founded a new 
system by dissolving all the rules into their ele- 
ments, and resting them on the evidence of the 



20 THE STUDIES AND METHOD OF 

senses. The exercises he introduced for obtaining 
this object, made such a conspicuous feature in his 
system of instruction,' that many people who did not 
look farther into the matter, thought that he had 
only invented a new method of casting accounts. 
Though he did not neglect geometry, it occupied a 
less conspicuous place in his system than it ought, 
according to the opinion of the more modern 
teachers. They have therefore introduced some 
changes in this branch. 

The first step in teaching arithmetic is to cause 
the little children to count the objects which sur- 
round them. When they can do this with ease, 
and the teacher desire that they should be able to 
count greater numbers, he gives them numerous 
small things, as beans, pieces of wood, cubes, &c., 
and causes them to count them. In these exercises 
the four fundamental rules may easily be interwo- 
ven. For instance, when there are five beans, how 
many must the child add to have eight ; how many 
must he give to his neighbor, when he is only to 
keep four himself; how many will each one receive 
when six beans are to be divided between two boys; 
how many times must the child receive three beans 
from his neighbor, if he wishes to have nine. Every 
time the child is unable to give an answer, the 
beans themselves are placed before him, that he 
may find it out in a practical way. When these pre- 
paratory exercises have been carried on for some 
time, the children commence to manage abstract 
numbers ; and in the beginning their import is 



TEACHING IN PRUSSIAN SCHOOLS. 21 

commonly indicated by lines, as it is done in the 
arithmetical tables of Pestalozzi. This is done in 
the first instance with very low numbers, and the 
progress to the higher is very slow ; after some 
time, arithmetic in figures is united to mental arilh- ' 
mdtic, and abstract accounts are mixed up with 
others applied to occurrences in life. The theory 
of the fractions is also deduced from the evidence 
of the senses, and afterwards the proportions are 
explained and impressed by numerous exercises. 
At last, arithmetic is applied to geometry. It is 
thought that neither algebra nor the extraction of 
quadratic and cubic roots should be taught in these 
schools, except in towns, as they would take up too 
much time. 

Every elementary school is commonly divided 
into three sections or classes, even when there is 
only one teacher, and the whole course of arith- 
metic is distributed accordingly. 

First class (children from 6 to 9 years old) : 
Preparatory exercises. Mental arithmetics, in 
whole numbers for the four fundamental rules. 

Second class (from 9 to 12 years old) : Mental 
arithmetic in the decimal system. Arithmetic in 
figures in whole numbers. Fractions without and 
with figures. 

Third class (from 12 to 15 years) : Proportions. 
Application of the whole to actual cases, without 
and with figures. 

The course adopted for teaching geometry is 
similar. It does not begin with definitions and 



22 THE STUDIES AND METHOD OF- 

axioms, or with lines, but with instruction by the 
evidence of the senses. The reguhir geometrical 
bodies are shown to the children ; and they, them- 
selves, without explanation, find out the differences. 
Then the teacher points out the form of them, and 
proceeds to explain planes and lines, as the boun- 
daries of the bodies. The theory of forms and 
space (Formlehre and Grossenlehre) are by no 
means separated, because form and space are 
always coexistent and interwoven with one another. 
As they proceed, lines, planes, and bodies, are 
always treated together, as constituting one object, 
and thus stereometry forms an important branch of 
this instruction. In teaching geometry, as well as 
arithmetic, three sections are observed : 

3 . Forms of the bodies, acquired by the evidence 
of the senses ; which may be compared with count- 
ing in arithmetic. 

2. Comparison and measuring, which is similar 
to the four fundamental rules. 

3. Proportions. 

Inevery one of them enters a part @f the theory 
of lines, planes, and bodies. But the teacher must 
have sagacity enough to arrange matters so, that 
the succeeding instruction not only appropriately 
follows the preceding, but is also partly deduced 
from it. At the same time, he must avoid problems 
which have little connexion with the business of 
life, and must introduce in his instruction what oc- 
curs in the mechanical trades, for instarice, in those 



TEACHING IN PRUSSIAN SCHOOLS. 23 

of carpenters, cabinet-makers, bricklayers, wag- 
oners, coopers, &c. 

3. Knowledge of the external world. — ( Weltkunde.) 

Like every other branch of instruction, it begins 
with impressions on the senses. A child must first 
have acquired an idea of the objects constituting 
the world about him, before he can bring them into 
connexion with one another. Every child brings 
a smaller or greater number of more or less correct 
impressions to the school. The teacher must be 
attentive to increase their number, but he must also 
shaw his good sense in choosing those that are the 
most important and most essential for the progress 
of education. These preparatory exercises may 
be made in the fields or in the school. In summer, 
the teacher takes the children to the fields, and 
directs their attention to every object that occurs 
to their eyes. Distances of the road are estinrmted, 
and then measured by paces ; flowers are looked 
at and their single parts examined : stones are 
picked up ; and butterflies, chafers, and worms, 
are not permitted to escape attention. Their ob- 
servation is directed to hills and valleys, rivulets 
and brooks, ponds and ditches, gardens and mea- 
dows, fields and woods. But it is not the eye 
alone which is to be exercised ; the ear also must 
be learning to discriminate, and every sound is to 
be followed up for the purpose of discovering 
whence it proceeds. The other senses also are 



24 THE STUDIES AND METHOD OF 

sometimes used, especially in the examination of 
plants and flowers. The teacher must be assidu- 
ous to bring a great number of objects before the 
children, and to impress on them as perfect a no- 
tion as possible. The more intimately the child 
becomes acquainted with the objects of the creation, 
the more he will love them, and the deeper will be 
the impression which they make upon his mind. — 
The garden of the teacher also is used to increase 
their knowledge of several plants and trees. 

The preparatory course varies in the winter. — 
Then collections of natural objects are placed before 
the children ; for instance, of different kinds of 
wood, of roots, seeds, mosses, stones, &c. ; as 
likewise some productions of art, as stuffs, metals, 
&c. The most common objects are here also tRe' 
best. 

When in this way the children have become ac- 
quainted with a great number of objects, the teacher' 
puts several of them together, and causes his pupils 
to compare them, to arrange them according to 
their similarity. He frequently orders the children 
to describe the objects which they have seen, either 
by words or in writing, because in this way their 
ideas increase in clearness and accuracy. But 
this is only done towards the termination of the 
preparatory course; the senses are, as it were, to be 
first satisfied before reason can begin to operate with 
effect. When this has taken place, a few objects 
subjected to the senses are able to rouse a great 



TEACHING IN PRUSSIAN SCHOOLS. 25 

number of ideas and observations, because reason 
then suggests them in crowds. 

The teacher must endeavor to induce the chil- 
dren to arrange all these things in a certain order, 
as being of great importance both for the increase 
ot knowledge and for the business of life. He 
must also insist on correct language, and a strict 
connection in the children's ideas. But in the be- 
ginning, he must be somewhat indulgent respecting 
the latter point, that the conception may not be 
drowned in the word. 

When good figures of animals, either in prints 
or in casts, are easily to be obtained, they are also 
used in this preparatory course ; but the principal 
object must always be to see the thing itself, and in 
its natural state. Thus, dried plants have less 
value than those newly gathered, and these again 
less than those which are still on the ground. Live 
animals are also preferred to those that have been 
killed ; for it is not the form alone which cnoslitutes 
the animal, but its peculiar manner of walking and 
moving also. 

It is evident, that this kind of instruction cannot 
be brought to a termination in the time children at- 
tend schools ; because it extends not only over all 
natural objects, but also over all those produced by 
the arts and trades of men. It comprehends, there- 
fore, some knowledge of most of those objects which 
are treated of in the extensive sciences of natural 
history, natural philosophy, and technology. 

The teacher frequently finds an opportunity to 
3 



26 THE STUDIES AND METHOD OP 

add to the instruction by the senses some interest- 
ing mental instruction. In showing plants which 
are cultivated, he takes some notice of the manner 
of their cultivation. In exhibiting the figures of 
animals, he gives some account of their modes of 
life and peculiar habits, etc. But the impression 
on the senses themselves must always be the prin- 
cipal end to which the instruction is directed, else it 
is likely that the child will conceive a wrong idea of 
the object. 

After such a copious preparatory instruction, the 
teacher begins a regular course, which consists of 
aiding the children to acquire a correct idea of the 
place in whicb they live, of its neighborhood, the 
district in which it is situated, of the province to 
which It belongs, and lastly, of the monarchy. The 
place in which children live, is, properly speak- 
ing, their world ; and many persons, during the 
entire period of their life, have not an opportunity of 
seeing more than the villages of their neighborhood 
and one or two towns. 

The school-building is the first object to which 
the attention of children is called. The school-room 
is first measured by paces, and drawn on a small 
scale on a paper. Then the things, fixed within it, 
are added. The teacher then begins to acquaint 
the children with the materials of which the building 
consists, and of the persons and tradesmen who 
have been employed in erecting it, showing them 
also the tools which they used. Afterwards he 
directs the^^ attention to the objects which are in 



TEACHING IN PRUSSIAN SCHOOLS. 27 

the room, to their peculiar qualities, and the purpose 
for which they are placed there. Then he passes 
to the persons who live there, to their occupations, 
duties, etc. 

Having in this way impressed on the mind of the 
children clear conceptions both of the whole of the 
building and all its parts, the teacher passes to the 
village or town. First the plan of the place is 
drawn, paying regard to the cardinal points, the 
inequalities of the surface, the roads and paths, and 
the division of the fields. In this operation the 
children measure the distances by paces, and pay 
exact attention to them in the drawing. They also 
notice the names of the proprietors of the ground. 
Their attention is next directed to the quality of 
the soil, and the stones and rocks occurring in it. 
This is followed by noticing the plants cultivated in 
the fields and in the gardens, and the animals which 
are reared by the villagers or kept for use. The 
wild animals occurring in it and its neighborhood, 
are not omitted, or the trees and shrubs found in 
the adjacent woods. The teacher then leads them 
to the inhabitants of the village or town, observing 
first the number of the population, and the trades 
which are carried on. He afterwards notices the 
political and religious institutions, and concludes 
this instruction with giving an account of the most 
important historical occurrences. 

After this the view of the children is extended 
over the district in which the village or town is situ- 
ated. The teacher first draws the outlines of a 



28 THE STUDIES AMD METHOD OF 

large map of it on a board, and causes the children 
to copy it on a smaller scale. He then inserts the 
rivers and most remarkable mountains, and after- 
wards the villages which are situated round the vil- 
lage in which he teaches. Afterwards he places in 
their true situation the different towns, and the roads 
connecting them with one another. In doing this, 
he notices the places where the road traverses a 
range of hills, and where it passes through a river ; 
and whether the latter is passed by a bridge, a 
ferry, or a ford. If some part of the district is dis- 
tinguished by a peculiar branch of cultivation, it is 
taken notice of, and its peculiarities are described. 
The teacher likewise mentions the places where 
minerals are found, and gives a short account of 
them and the manner in which they are procured. 
He then enlarges somewhat on the industry of the 
towns, and terminates with noticing the courts of 
justice and political institutions. 

In passing from the district to the province of 
which the district forms a part, the teacher con- 
tinues in the same order ; but the information is 
here of a more general description, and still more 
so when he passes from their own province to the 
other provinces of the monarchy. Then he con- 
cludes the instruction with a few notices of the sta- 
tistics and political institutions of the whole mo- 
narchy. 

In every section of this course, the mstruction 
affords, 1, a knowledge of space and distances, 
with the inequahties of the surface occurring in 



TEACHING IN PRUSSIAN SCHOOLS. 29 

them ; 2, a knowledge of rocks, kinds of earth, and 
every thing that constitutes its soil and contributes 
to its fertihty, as climate, exposure to certain points 
of the compass, etc. ; 3, a knowledge of the culti- 
vated grains and plants, and also of those in a wild 
state which occur most frequently, or have some 
use in domestic economy ; 4, a similar knowledge 
of domestic and wild animals; 5, a knowledge of 
the inhabitants, their trades and occupations, their 
intercourse and religious creed ; 6, a knowledge of 
the present political institutions, and of the most re- 
markable historical events. Every section, there- 
fore, contains the geography, mineralogy, botany, 
zoology, agriculture, technology, statistics, and his- 
tory of that portion of their own country which it 
has the object to make known to the children. 

One of the most zealous promoters of the instruc- 
tion of the lower classes in Prussia, Dr. Harnisch 
in Weissenfels, says :' " I am of opinion, that a 
teacher who imparts in this way the knowledge of 
their own country to his pupils, has taught them 
things of much more importance than he who 
causes them to learn by heart the names of the 
c,apitals of all the kingdoms, and those of all their 
provinces, on 1 he surface of the globe; and who 
speaks to them of the history of Greece and Rome, 
whilst their attention is never directed to the cbjacts 
which surround them." 

If at the end of this course his pupils do not leave 
school, the teacher passes to the other countries of 
Europe, and to the other parts of the globe. Here, of 
3* 



30 THE STUPIES AND METHOD OF 

course he gives only a general view of the countries, 
and adds to it only the detail of a few remarkable 
objects, as the description of plants distinguished by 
some particular qualities ; of some singular and cu- 
rious animals, as alligators, elephants, etc.; or an 
account of some peculiar occupations of men among 
distant nations, etc., or of some extraordinary phe- 
nomena of nature, as volcanoes and earthquakes, 
etc. In this part of the instruction, the objects of 
course vary according to the knowledge of the 
teacher himself, and his good sense in selecting 
them. 

4. Drawing. 

It had for some time been an object of contro- 
versy, whether drawing should be taught in elemen- 
tary schools. Many rejected it on account of its 
entire uselessness in future life ; but others thought 
that the inclination which nearly all children evince 
for drawing and making figures of wax or clay, 
should be laid hold of for the cultivation of their 
mind. They observed, that besides cultivating 
their feeling for beauty and their taste, this occupa- 
tion accustoms them to cleanliness and order, two 
great qualities in a moral point of view. They 
farther stated, that the knowledge of drawing is not 
quite useless, but of considerable value in different 
trades. 

The first step consists in putting before the chil- 
dren different forms, especially the regular geome- 
trical bodies and the crystals of minerals, and then 



TEACHING IN PRUSSIAN SCHOOLS. 31 

several good prints and pictures. If an opportunity 
offers, their attention is to be directed to some pic- 
tures and statues in the church ; to the form of the 
pulpit, of the altar, the baptistry, etc. In looking at 
the geometrical bodies, they must be- made to ob- 
serve their planes, edges, and corners, and thus be- 
come more intimately acquainted with them. Then 
the instruction begins with drawing straight lines on 
a slate, first parallel, to the upper or lower edge and 
the lateral edges, then with an inclination to the 
right and left ; then the children draw angles, trian- 
gles, quadrilateral figures, and by degrees also a 
circle. In this way they acquire in a short time a 
certain facility of the hand, and such a discerninsf 
eye that they give the just length to the drawing, do 
not err in distances, or in the direction of the lines. 
With this the preparatory course may be considered 
as terminated. 

The beginning of the regular" instruction is 
closely connected with the preparatory course, and 
forms as it were the continuation of it. The teacher 
or^lers the children to arrange straight and curved 
lines with one another in different groups. For 
instance, he causes them to fill up the inner space of 
a circle or quadrangular figure witli straight or 
curved lines in a certain direction, or with both to- 
gether. These lines may also be drawn with less 
or greater strength, and thus the children will begin 
to form an idea of beauty as far as it resuhs from 
the contrast of strehgth and gentleness. By this 
exercise the invention of the children is powerfully 



3? THE STUDIES AND METHOD OF 

excited ; but the teacher must lead it by showing 
them from time to time some drawings in which the 
lines are so combined as to make an agreeable im? 
pression. Those of the children who show slow? 
ness in their inventive powers, are ordered to copy 
the inventions which are made by others. 

The teacher next lays before them, as examples, 
either prints or lithographs, wood-cuts or pictures, 
and accompanies them with an explanation. This 
explanation is necessary, that the children may 
comprehend the true object of the drawing, which 
is much more difficult in the beginning than is com- 
monly thought. The children then copy the draw- 
ing, and in the progress of this exercise the teacher 
is very careful in leading them gradually from the 
more easy to the more difficult, avoiding in the be- 
ginning all kinds of perspective representations. 
The children draw sometimes on a smaller, and 
sometimes on a larger scale, than the copy which is 
before them. In the elementary schools of towns, 
architectural drawing is much practised. 

The third kind of exercises consists of drawing 
from objects. The children begin wjth regular 
bodies, cubes, obelisks, columns, etc. They after- 
wards mix them together, so as to bring them into a 
perspective view. Other objects are then added, 
especially those of common life — flowers, different 
kinds of tools, and simple machines. 

These three kinds of exercises, however, are not 
siriclly separated. The most difficult kinds of draw: 



TEACHING m PRUSSIAN SCHOOLS. 33 

ing, however, are not executed in these schools. 
Heads and landscapes are excluded. . 

5. Rdligion, 

Two circumstances have occurred in later times 
to exclude religious instruction almost entirely from 
the elementary schools, or at least to limit them to 
a couple of hours weekly. One was the increased 
number of the branches of knowledeje to be taught 
there, and the other the great indifference with re- 
gard to religion which prevailed all over Germany 
thirty or forty years ago. But as this indifference 
has by degrees give-n way to other sentiments and 
feelino-s, the modern reformers of the schools insist 
upon securing to religion a respectable place among 
the branches of knowledge to be taught in elemen- 
tary schools. Children, they say, judge commonly 
of the importance of any branch of knowledge ac- 
cording to the time assigned to giving instruction 
in it, and the industry with which it is treated ; and 
for that reason alone, religion ought to obtain the 
first place, and other branches ought to be brought 
into connexion with it as often as possible. 



6. 



Singing was introduced into all the schools of 
Germany at the Reformation, because it constitutes 
there an essential part of the divine service. In 
the last century, however, this branch of instruction 



34 THE STUDIES AND METHOD OF 

was much neglected, but it was re-established by 
Pestalozzi and his pupils. 

The preparatory course consists of some exer- 
cises of the ear. Little children should continually 
listen to the elder pupils singing well executed 
songs ; and when they evince any talent, some 
trials may be made as to whether they are able to 
distinguish the notes. 

Some have proposed to begin the regular course 
of instruction with exercises in keeping time ; but 
the practice prevailing at present consists in singing 
short songs to the children, who afterwards repeat 
them. As soon as the children have learnt to sing 
several songs, the exercise is not continuously fol- 
lowed up, but is connected with exercises in keep- 
ing time, and in distinguishing the notes.. When 
they have made some ppgress, a knowledge of 
written music is gradually added ; and as they be- 
come capable of comprehending the rising and fall- 
ing of the scale in written music, the song upon 
which they are to be exercised is written on the 
board, that it may serve them as a support, and 
that they may get into the habit of singing from 
music. Farther the instruction does not extend. 
The most important songs are learnt by heart, be- 
cause they are sung with more feeling when 
prompted by the memory. Every child is, besides, 
obliged to have a song-book, in which he enters the 
^ords of all the songs which he has learnt to sing. 



TEACHING IN PRUSSIAN SCHOOLS. 35 

The children are compelled by the law to go to 
school between the age of five and six years, and to 
remain there until the completion of the fourteenth 
year. The whole course of instruction is divided 
into four periods, each comprehending two years. 

In the first period, from iheir entrance into 
school to the completion of the eighth year, the 
senses of the children are exercised, and they are 
made acquainted with a great number of objects of 
different kinds, with their qualities and conditions* 
This serves at the same time as a preparatory course 
for the knowledge of the external world, and of their 
native language. The preparatory course of the 
language requires, besides, some exercises in speak- 
ing and pronunciation, in which the teacher pro4 
nounces the words loudly and distinctly, and causes 
them to be pronounced in the same way by the 
children. At the same time the children draw dif- 
ferent figures on slates ; become acquainted with 
numbers from 1 to 100; use rhem in mental arith- 
metic, and learn by-and-by the use of coins, and 
measures, etc. The early exercises pass by degrees 
into those of reading and writing, arithmetic, and a 
knowledge of language. The preparatory courses 
for religion and singing are in some measure united. 
The teacher gives an historical account of the Bi- 
ble, but such a one as is intelligible to children ; im- 
presses on their memory a good many easy and 
expressive passages, and a few easy songs and 
hymns. 

At the completion of the eighth year, the children 



36 THE STUDIES AND METHOD OF 

know, 1, those liistorical parts of the Bible which are' 
adapted to their capacities ; a good many passsages 
and hymns, especially such as may be used as 
prayers; 2, the four fundamental rules of arithme- 
tic ; 3, they read and write tolerably, and have ac- 
quired a good pronunciation ; 4, they sing from 
thirty to fifty songs and hymns by ear ; 5, they are 
acquainted with those objects of the external world 
which are nearest to them, and are able to express 
their opinion on the most common occurrences of 
life. They are commonly instructed three hours a 
day. 

The second period comprehends children from 
eight to ten years old, who commonly are instructed 
four hours a day. At the end of that period they 
know, 1, the essential portions of the history of the 
Bible ; are able to apply some facts of it to life ; 
have learnt a hymn or song for every festival, for 
the seasons and other remarkable occurrences, and 
know how to sing them : they know also passages 
from the Bible referring to religious tenets, moral 
virtues ; 2, they know well the four fundamental 
rules of arithmetic, and have been exercised in 
casting accounts ; 3, they write accurately, both as 
regards the form of letters, and the orthography of 
the most common words — read correctly, and m^ke 
use of tolerably correct langCiage in their discourse ; 
4, they sing a much larger number of songs by 
ear, and have begun to sing from music, and to 
distinguish the notes ; 5, they have obtained some 
knowledge of the phenomena of the air, and of the 



TEACHING IN PRUSSIAN SCHOOLS. 37 

most important plants and animals to be found in 
their country ; 6, they have been exercised in ex- 
pressing their conceptions with exactness, in form- 
ing single sentences, and in repeating historical 
events and descriptions. 

In the third period, when the children have com- 
pleted ten, and have not yet attained twelve years 
of age, they are instructed from twenty-six to 
twenty-eight hours a week ; and at the termination 
of this period, it is found, 1. That they have en- 
riched their memory with a much greater number 
of passages from the Bible and religious songs ; 
that they have obtained a connected history of the 
Bible, and are acquainted with a much greater 
number of instances which can be applied to com- 
mon life ; and that all this knowledge has been con- 
nected with that of the catechism, and a regular 
system of religious and moral instruction* 2. In 
arithmetic they have obtained an accurate know- 
ledge of fractions and proportions. 3. They write 
calligraphically and without much error ; they read 
not only correctly, but also with expression and 
emphasis ; and have learnt by heart some poetry 
and good pieces of prose, which they repeat with 
ease and propriety. 4. They sing from music with 
some ease ; and those who are most advanced are 
chosen to sirg in church. 5. In the knowledge of 
the external world, they have become thoroughly 
acquainted with their own country. 6. The in- 
struction in the grammatical and logical part of the 
language has been rather practical than tiieoretical, 
4 



88 THE STUDIES AND METHOD OF 

but in some manner complete. 7. While in draw- 
ing, they have obtained a certain facility, and have 
been exercised both in copying and inventing. 
8. Geometry has been taught only so far as it de- 
pends 013 the evidence of the senses. 

During the fourth period, from the completion of 
the twelfth to that of the fourteenth year, the children 
are instructed from twenty-eight to thirty hours 
weekly ; and at its termination they have acquired, 
1. A complete knowledge of the religion of their 
church — are able to comprehend sermons both in 
their tendency and their separate parts. 2. They 
are acquainted with all kinds of complicated ac- 
counts, and are able to solve algebraic equations of 
the first degree. 3. They know how lo read books 
loudly with the due expression — how to use them 
for the increase of their knowledge, and how to 
make abstracts from them ; they have acquired 
some facility in compositions which refer to the oc- 
currences of common life, and their penmanship is 
good even when writing quickly. 4. They know 
a great number of songs, especially hymns ; and 
when they have a good ear, are able to make out 
the tune of a song from its music. 5. They have 
obtained a general view of the geography and most 
remarkable productions of the various countries of 
Europe, and of the other quarters of the globe ; so 
that they have some idea of the extent of the crea- 
tion and the activity of the human race. 6. They 
have terminated the knowledge of their native lan- 
guage, being able to express their notions with dis- 



TEACHING IN PRUSSIAN SCHOOLS. 39 

tinctness, to distinguish the parts of speech, to ana- 
lyse the sentences and periods ; and as they also 
have become acquainted with the most common 
poetical measures, they are able to recognise them 
in the poetry which they read ; they have also con- 
tracted some acquaintance with a few of the classi- 
cal authors of their native language. 7. They 
have been exercised in perspective drawing, either 
of houses, or objects of domestic economy and mo- 
dels ; every one according to the probable use he 
may be able to make of it in the future business of 
his Hfe. 8. They have terminated the course of 
geometry, with different applications of it to com- 
mon life. 

The reader, doubtless, wishes to know whether in 
every elementary school in Prussia all these 
branches of instruction are carried to the extent I 
have mentioned. This is very far from being the 
case. It has, however, been tried with good effect 
in a few country schools, and is strongly insisted on 
in town schools. In the latter, it is possible to exe- 
cute the plan in all its extent ; for in them the school 
house is commonly large enough to afford three 
school rooms, and there are also in general three 
teachers employed in it. This number of school 
rooms and teachers is required to carry the whole 
plan to its termination. One teacher cannot by the 
whole course of his teaching impart a larger amount 
of knowledge than that which has been noticed as 
the acquirements of the second period; and even 
two will find it a hard task to impart to them all that 



40 THE STUDIES AND METHOD OF 

in a complete school is learned in the third period. 
The success of their attempts will not only depend 
on their skill, but also on the number of children 
which they have to instruct. 

The Prussian government has not yet thought it 
expedient to determine by a law the number of 
children which are to compose a class, and to be 
taught by one teacher. The reason is obvious. 
The number determined by the law must have fallen 
considerably short of that which at present attends 
a class ; and such a law would, of course, have 
obliged the school communities to erect numerous 
school houses, and to provide for the maintenance 
of many additional teachers. Though the public 
seems aware of the necessity of a better instruction 
for the lower classes, and is ready to promote the 
views of government in this respect, it would doubt- 
less have thought that such large pecuniary de- 
mands upon them should not be made at once. 
Government, therefore, has wisely taken steps to 
prepare the mind of the public for greater exertions, 
by showing them by experience that it is very pos- 
sible to imparl a greater, and at the same time a 
much more useful quantity of knowledge to the 
lower classes. This object it tries to obtain by the 
erection of seminaries for the education of teachers 
of the laboring classes. Meanwhile, the number 
of pupils attending a class is by far too large to 
enable one teacher so to instruct them as to have 
the least regard to the individual talents of each 
child. Dr. Harnisch mentions cases where hg 



TEACHING IN PRUSSIAN SCHOOLS. 41 

found that one teacher had two hundred pupils 
placed under his care. He says, that in Silesia it 
is commonly thought that a teacher cannot, with 
the hope of producing any effect by his instruction, 
manage a school of more than one hundred chil- 
dren ; and he himself thinks that that number ought 
to be reduced to fifty or sixty. In the town of Bre- 
man the legislature has determined that it shall never 
exceed twenty-five. That of Winterthur limits the 
number to thirty, and some other places of Switzer- 
land to forty. This last number has also been 
adopted in the school erected in Berlin some years 
ago, for the instruction of t'lo middling classes. 

Though the Prussian government has shown great 
activity and care in erecting seminaries for the in- 
struction of teachers for the lower classes, and 
though at present there are about fifty of such insti. 
tutions in existence in the whole monarchy, the 
number of the teachers who aijnually issue from 
them is thought to be barely sufficient to satisfy the 
present demand. At present, every teaclier, when 
he leaves the institution, must be immediately em- 
ployed in a school ; allhough it is found that nearly 
one third of the young men who receive their educa- 
tion in the seminaries are not fit for teaching in 
schools : for they are either destitute of that energy 
of character which is so essentially required in 
every man who has to govern a mass of people, or 
of that versatility of mind which can enable him to 
adapt every branch of knowledge to the individual 
dispositions of the children. Thus it may be said 



42 THE STUDIES AND METHOD, &G. 

that the number of good teachers who are annually 
prepared in the seminaries, falls still short of the de- 
mand by one-third, and that the required number 
could only be obtamed by the erection of twenty-five 
other seminaries. But if the opinion of Dr. Harnisch, 
respecting the number of children to be admitted 
into one class, is adopted^ — and the opinion of such 
an experienced teacher must certainly have great 
weight, — the number of schools, or classes, must at 
least be doubled, which would, of course, require 
that the schools for teachers should increase in the 
same ratio. The education in Prussia, therefore, 
can only be said to be placed on a satisfactory foot- 
ing, when the institutions for training up teachers 
for the lower class shall have been increased to the 
number of one hundred and fifty, or about one for 
eighty thousand individuals ofthe population. The 
government is well aware of this circumstance, and 
is not deterred by the difficulties that are to be over- 
come in the execution of their extensive plan ; its 
conduct shows that these difficulties excite it to 
greater efforts and more important improvements. 

W. WITTICH, 
Native of Tilsit, Prussia. 



TO THE AMERICAN PEOPLE. 

How much of the -practical business of life, do 
the children learn in our common schools 1 What 
is learned that assists the labors of manhood ? In 
a word, what do our common schools now teach 
that makes THE MAN ? Does the young farmer 
in his district school, and while he is receiving the 
only education he is ever to get, learn any thing of 
agriculture — of the nature of soils and manures ? 
Any thing that teaches him to distinguish the dif- 
ferent earths, and their peculiar adaptation to the 
different grains end grasses. Does he learn any 
thing of the best breeds of stock — of the best man- 
ner of raising, keeping, and fattening his cattle, 
sheep, and swine ? Is he taught that which makes 
his profession useful, profitable, or honorable ? Is 
not farming, in too many instances, blind imitation — 
thoughtless, unproductive toil — the slavish delving 
of the hands without the delights or the aid of intel- 
lect ? This must be so, when there is no science to 
observe, or experiment — when, in their only educa- 
tion, the childrenlearn nothing of their profession. 

There should be an elementary work on ^arm- 
ing, making known the nature of the soils, the best 
methods of recovering, invigorating, and preparing 
them for the grains and grasses, the different kinds 



44 TO THE AMERICAN PEOPLE. 

of manures, and their treatment, — also the best 
construction and architecture of farm houses, and 
the most improved implements of agricultural hus- 
bandry. The children may read this in the schools, 
instead of the thoughtless, unintelligible rote reading 
of the "English Reader," "Columbian Orator," 
and similar works now read, and entirely useless 
to children, or to the purposes of after life. Why 
cannot the pupils, in the school, have their minds 
imbued with that which they can put in practice in 
after life ? 

Do the common schools teach the children any 
thing concerning their SOCIAL RELATIONS? 
their duties to their neighbors, to their social insti- 
tutions ? Is the nature and constitution of their 
Government taught? Or, its form of administra- 
tion? Are the children taught their duties to their 
country, or their government ? Is any thing taught 
of the duties of public officers? — Such as the " du- 
ties of school commissioners, inspectors, and trus- 
tees ;" the " duties of county commissioners, col- 
lectors, clerks, and supervisors ;" the " duties of 
town inspectors ;" the " duties of sheriffs, path-mas- 
ters, and poor masters." Is there any thing taught 
of the " duties of referees, of justices of the peace, 
or of jurors ?" Do the schools teach any thing of 
the " duties of delegate electors," or of the " duties 
of legislators and judges?" ^These offices are all 
open to the children, and they must one day fill 
them. Should not the people's schools, then, teach 
«ome or all of these important duties ? Should not 



TO THE AMERICAN PEOPLE. 45 

the children learn something of the momentous rela- 
tions they will sustain to these free institutions, to 
the peace of society, and to the prosperity of their 
fellow-citizens ? 

However wise a government may be, its bless- 
ings depend, in a great measure, upon the fidelity 
and intelligence of those who administer it. But is 
there as much care taken to have the laws well ad- 
ministered, as there is to make good laws ? Are 
our Common Schools such that they are preparing 
the people for their government ? Are we taking 
proper care of the foundation of our civil super- 
structu'-e ? Are not the most of our efforts, our 
talking, our writing, our reading, and our scrutiny, 
concerning who shall make and administer the 
laws, when we should exert our energies in prepar- 
ing every citizen for the duties which await him 1 
There should be a text book for Common Schools 
on the " Duties of public officers," and the children 
in every school should use it. 

There also should be a text book on the first sim- 
ple truths of " Political Economy." Now, the 
pupils are not taught the use of a circulatincr me- 
dium, — money ; nor the advantages of exchange 
and commerce. The benefits of the merchant, the 
mechanic, and of professional men, are not taught, 
or seen distinctly by many. The relation of rich 
and poor ; the nature of the mere earth \\ithout 
labor ; what labor is productive, and what unpro- 
ductive ; what constitutes value and price ; what 
jnakes things high or low price ; or the causes of 



46 TO THE AMERICAN PEOPLE. 

wealth, and happiness, and safety, are not taught ! 
No — none of these things are as yet even dreamed 
of in a common education. Yet these simple, at- 
tractive truths, might be taught in a very short 
time, were there suitable books and teachers. . The 
children waste time enough to learn much more 
than we here require. 

The children should, as a part of their education, 
also, learn something of their own nature, physical, 
moral and intellectual ; and something of their re- 
lations to their Creator. The physical nature of 
man, his relations to the Natural Laws, and the cau- 
ses of health and disease, the children should grow 
up familiar with. The moral and intellectual na- 
tures, and the laws which the Creator has given 
them, should be known to all, that every man may 
foresee and avoid the misery from their infringe, 
ment. And the children should early and im- 
pressively see the requirements of the Creator, and 
the duties they owe to Him as their preserver and 
benefactor. 

But are any of these things taught in our ele- 
mentary schools? Yet, should they not all be 
taught ? — taught clearly, undersiandingly, and prac- 
tically ? They may be, and we trust there will 
soon be introduced such books and teachers into 
our common schools as to prove the truth of our as- 
sertion. There is no necessity of keeping a child 
eight or ten years, to learn to read his primer, write 
his name, cipher to the rule of three, and hate books 
and learning for the rest of his life. 



TO THE AMERICAN PEOPLE. 47 

No — our schools can and ought to increase the 
MIND of the nation. They ought to enlarge its 
views, its productive powers, its energies, and render 
the people industrious, and morally and intellectu- 
ally ftappy. The common schools should prepare 
men for their callings, and for self-government. 

A series of school books, embracing the above 
subjects, has just been issued, at 128 Fulton Street, 
by J. Orville Taylor, and can be obtained at the 
book stores generally. Their titles are — 

Town's Analysis of Derivative Words in the Eng- 
lish Language. 

Introduction to Town's Analysis. 

Farmer's School Book — By J. Orville Tat/lor. 

Political Economy, for Schools — By Professor 
Mc Vickar, 

Help to Young Writers. 

Combe's Constitution of Man — abridged for 
Schools. 

Young Citizen's Manual — By Judge Conkling, 

Girl's School Book, No. I.— By Mrs. Jane 
Taylor, 

Girl's Reading Book— By Mrs. L. H. Sigour- 
ney. 

Civil Polity and Political Economy — By M, 
Willson. 

Mather's Geology — By Prof. Mather. 



LIBRARY OF CONGRESS 



SCHOOL BOOQ 022 108 588 

FUBI.ISHED BY J. ORVILLE TAYLOR^ 

128 Fulton Street, New York. 



TOWN'S ANALYSIS OF DERIVATIVE WORDS.- 
This work has been recommended by the Board of Regents 
of New York. It gives the English student, with respect to 
our own language, the advantages of a classical educaticn. 
All English schools, and female seminaries particularly, 
should use the work, 

INTRODUCTION TO TOWN'S ANALYSIS.— This 
should be the spelling book of all elementary schools, as it 
teaches the formation and meaning of words at the same 
time the pupil is learning their orthography. It corrects the 
great evil of learning for years, words, and mere words. 

THE GIRL'S READING BOOK— By Mrs. L. H. Si- 
gourney.— This beautiful little gem has been prepared exclu- 
sively for a reading book in schools for girls. It teaches do- 
mestic duties, house-wifery-social and moral duties-female 
virtues and accomplishments, and is said to be the best book 
for young misses that has appeared from the press. 

THE GIRL'S SCHOOL BOOK— By Mrs. Jane Tay- 
lor—This is a pleasing, appropriate aid for little girls just 
commencing the art of reading. It is a great favorite with 
the young. 

POLITICAL ECONOMY FOR SCHOOLS-By Pro- 
fessor Mc Vickar.-A happy, simple production on this great 
subject, for y<>ung minds-intended for children of ten or 
: twelve years. 

FARMER'S SCHOOL BOOK-By J. Or^nlle Taylor - 
This teaches children the first practical principles of agri- 
culture, ai>d should be used in all country schools. 



I 



